You're the Reason
by setmysoulonfire
Summary: It's not that Beca was hiding her feelings... they just hadn't come up, really. Until they do, right before Beca and Chloe head their separate ways for a worldwide tour and vet school. (rated T for now)
1. Chapter 1

It's not like Beca was actively hiding it, like she wouldn't fess up if someone had called her on it. I mean... she would have. If anyone had ever really, seriously called her on it, she wouldn't lie. She's not a liar and nothing could turn her into one. She's too stubborn for that. Maybe she'd stumble and maybe she'd be a little vague but she wouldn't outright deny it.

She felt it on the tip of her tongue when she confessed to the girls that DJ Khaled had picked her. It was something about the way Chloe sat down next to her, with all the other girls across from them. Such a small thing, such a miniscule detail that Chloe probably didn't even think about. But that was the part that gave her butterflies: that Chloe didn't even have to think about it. It was just her and Beca, them against the world.

It was something about the blanket wrapped around her shoulders. Something about the way she ate up her whole bottom lip when she smiled, her eyes so eager but genuine when she looked at Beca. It was something about all the girls' unending support that filled her body with a temporary bravado that made her nudge her feet over to find Chloe's. Unabashed as always, Chloe wrapped one leg around Beca's ankle and leaned forward over the table, taking Beca's hand and squeezing it once, nearly invisible, but tight enough for Beca to still feel it when Chloe suggested the hug.

Her words had been swallowed with all the arms wrapped around her. Maybe, she thought, it was for the best. Maybe she was just caught up in the moment. Now wasn't a good time to say anything anyway. There were literally a million and a half things to do, a performance to get ready for, meetings already she had to attend. Saying something now... it was selfish, more than anything. Especially when she didn't even know what she really wanted out of it. Chloe had been accepted to vet school. Beca was going on tour. Their lives were about to diverge, for the first time. She had seven years to say something to Chloe and now? Now, her time was up.

What was she hoping for, anyway? If Chloe confessed to Beca that she had crazy feelings too, that she felt more than friendly towards her and has for awhile, Beca thinks she'd feel uncomfortable. The idea of some big, magic moment made her skin squirm. So maybe that means Beca is in the clear. If she had _real_ feelings for Chloe, it wouldn't make her feel so sweaty and nervous and anxious thinking about Chloe feeling the same way. She'd want Chloe to react by grabbing her and kissing her or... something. Something normal that normal people want with their romantic partners. So not wanting that... that meant she was in the clear. She probably was just feeling a little extra attached to her right now because she had been so close to her, and now the idea of separating made her get all confused and weird.

She had felt so full after her performance, completely at ease with the calmness that her feelings for all the Bellas were exactly equal. She felt no different about any of them. She loved them all equally: more than anything in this world.

So it didn't really make sense. It just didn't make sense how her heart lit up when she saw Chloe walking towards her, then how it dropped when she breezed right by her and went to Chicago. It didn't make sense that her sinking heart suddenly weighed more than her entire body when she saw Chloe kiss him, or how her lungs suddenly seemed to have a puncture hole in them, deflating.

Theo was a welcome distraction because the absolute worst thing that could happen to Beca Mitchell in public was about to happen, tiny prickly wet dots touching the backs of her eyes, so she jumped into conversation with him. She fished through her mind, looking for something smart and sarcastic to quip back with. After making a joke about being a handful, the conversation lulled and she couldn't help it: she craned her neck and stole a glance back at Chloe and Chicago still locked at the lips. Without meaning, an annoyed sigh slipped through her own.

"Everything okay?" he asked with a hint of a smile.

"Hummm?" she asked.

"I asked if everything was okay? Beca?"

Finally, Beca thought with so much irritation in her body she could feel it curling around her fingertips. Chicago looked like a goof, with puffy red lips and dazed eyes. Chloe looked, somehow, as perfect as Chloe always did. Her smile had a little more mischief and confidence than normal as she turned her head, grazing around to see if anyone caught her show. When she noticed Beca, her eyes lit up and she waved excitedly. Beca raised one hand and slowly waved just her fingers back. Chloe told Chicago she'd be right back with a squeeze of his bicep and a wink as she ran towards Beca.

And Beca couldn't help it. She couldn't help but let Chloe swallow her in a hug when she enveloped her and spun her around and squealed.

"Beca! You are so _aws_!"

"Dude," Beca tried hard to act unamused, but her happiness was leaking out. "Put me down."

"I'm so proud of you." Chloe released her and looked her up and down, then stuck her bottom lip out. Beca's shoulders dropped and she pursed her lips in question.

"What's that face?"

"Nothing. It's a happy-sad."

"That's, like, not a thing."

Chloe flashed her a wide, genuine smile then, the kind that made Beca's heart skip a couple beats inside her chest, the kind that ate up her bottom lip, that made her seem just so _happy_ and _excited_ about whatever comes next. Beca briefly wondered how she could have ever let herself fall in love with someone so the opposite of herself, then berated herself before the thought could even finish. Love? Now she's using the big L word when it's NOT like that. It's NOT that serious. It is not. Not. Not. Not.

"I'm going to come to _all_ your shows to support you."

"Nuh-uh," Beca shook her head. "You're not taking seven years to graduate vet school too."

A surprised laugh came from Chloe then, with a playful shove of Beca's shoulder. Beca told herself it was normal. It was normal to feel happy when you make someone you care about happy. The tingling sensation in her stomach was from performing. It was from a million and one things, none of them being the stupid sound of stupid Chloe's stupid laugh.

"School starts in the fall, silly," Chloe stuck out her tongue and bopped Beca's nose with her finger. Beca rolled her eyes and turned to the side, feeling her cheeks heating just a little.

"You have a job, Chlo."

Chloe shrugged with one shoulder, as if she couldn't argue that point, and Beca pretended it wasn't disappointment flooding through her veins at an alarming rate. What did she want? Chloe to say she didn't? Chloe to quit her job to follow her around on tour?

Chloe pulled Beca's hair from behind her shoulders and curled it around her fingers mindlessly, fixing it.

"I'm stuh-arving. What are you doing? Wanna grab something?"

Beca glanced over Chloe's shoulder, at Chicago still waiting. Beca felt bad for the hatred she had felt for him just a few moments ago. He seemed sweet. Just standing around, waiting for Chloe to come back to him.

"Is he...?" Beca started.

"Oh!" Chloe squeaked. She turned around and waved at him. He waved back, clearly misunderstanding. She took Beca's hand and started walking in the opposite direction, still waving and mouthing bye. Beca pressed her lips together tightly to prevent her laugh.

"That's not nice," she tried to reprimand.

"Why?" Chloe asked innocently.

"You just kissed him! Like, all up on him, practically sucked his face off dude. Not even an explanation?"

Chloe shrugged. "It was just for fun." Beca only shook her head, but let the conversation quiet. "Besides," Chloe added after a moment, "if he likes me, it will just make him come back for more. I can't play all my cards in one night."

"Why play games though?" Beca heard herself ask. "Why not just be straightforward with someone about your feelings for them? Is that ever, like a thing that happens?"

Chloe beamed at her, so brightly it made Beca cringe inwards a little.

"What?" Beca asked.

"That's so Beca of you."

"Is that a... bad thing?"

Chloe's smile somehow brightened as she shook her head. She lifted her hand and rubbed one thumb on Beca's chin, stopping Beca's heart when she briefly rubbed against the bottom of her lip. "Not all of us have the Beca Mitchell charm that makes it so easy for you."

"You are actually kidding now."

"It's a thing," Chloe insisted. "You have this like, brooding, angry, I-don't-care-about-anyone-but-maybe-you're-the-exception charm. It's a TOTAL thing. Like a bad girl kind of thing."

This time Beca let out a squeal of a surprised laugh.

"I'm just going to pretend you're not talking now."

"Whatever Becs, don't believe me! You'll see I'm right when guys are throwing themselves at you on tour, trying to get your number."

And something in Beca, something soft and small, gives her bravery. And she stops walking. Chloe notices just a few steps away and turns with her eyebrows furrowed.

"Becs?" her voice is gentle and full of love and Beca looks up and she knows if she lets it go again, she might never tell her. She looks in the bluest eyes she's ever seen and she can't help it... against everything in her body telling her not to, she smiles. Chloe returns with a small, confused smile of her own. "You okay?"

"What if I don't want them?" Beca asks.

"Hmm?"

"The guys on tour. What if I don't want any of them?"

Chloe's concern turns real now as she steps back into Beca's space, tilting her head and trying to figure her out.

"Then ignore them?" she tries. She doesn't know if it's the right answer. "What's wrong? You don't have to be with anyone if you don't want to..."

"Right," Beca nods. "You're right. Sorry, that was weird of me."

Chloe nods once, unsure, then lets one hand fall around Beca's shoulder. She pulls her into a one-armed hug and squeezes.

"It's been a sups weird night," she offers. "But you were amazing."

Beca lets her head fall onto Chloe's shoulder and keeps it there as they walk. "You smell like vanilla," she notes.

"Ooooh Beca! You noticed I changed my shampoo?! I'm _flattered._ "

Beca rolls her eyes and pushes her away. "Shut up."

Chloe's smile, Beca thinks, could light up the entire world when she looks at her. And she knows it's stupid, naive of her, but she can't help but feel special. Like that smile is just for her. Chloe just has a way about her, this incredible, indescribable way that makes you feel like you're the only person in the world that matters. It's hard to think anything else.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** Hey! So I originally posted this fic on tumblr and asked for some advice on where to post it since it's multichap, and decided to try out ff. I think I'm gonna try ff and tumblr both for now and see which one works out best. I'm new to the Bechloe fandom so I would appreciate all the feedback & reviews! My tumblr is the same as my ff username, setmysoulonfire if you want to find/talk to me there! This fic is about Beca/Chloe after pitch perfect 3. It will follow them in their "new" lives after Beca drunkenly confesses to Chloe her feelings for her after the televised performance at the end of the tour.

* * *

At Barden, Beca had a professor in Sociology 101 that said, with all the sincerity in the world, _every contact with a human being is so rare, so precious, one should preserve it._ Beca had blown air out of her nose and rolled her eyes in the back of the class as her classmates seemed to really drink the statement in, absorbing it. Then her professor followed it with, "but generally speaking, most interaction with other human beings are just shit. Every time Margaret from down the street pushes me out of her way for her fresh produce, I want wrap my hands around her neck. Certainly not a feeling to preserve."

Beca had felt so validated that she actually laughed out loud, loud enough for everyone to briefly turn their heads and look at her to see from where the sound came. Her professor looked right at Beca, right in her eyes, as if she was singling her out when she finished with, "but sometimes, every once in awhile, someone will come along and surprise you. And you'll fall in love. Go figure."

The rest of the lesson proceeded with the chapter on monogamous relationships in their society and for the first time in her entire life, it actually made sense to her. She always felt immune to the falling in love thing - Beca would never share a bed with _anybody,_ nevermind sharing a whole life, but for the first time it seemed maybe possible. The idea that someone may come along and surprise her.

* * *

The rest of the night was about celebrating, but Beca was just about done by eleven. She had a few drinks, probably not in the best condition to operate heavy machinery, but she felt okay and really, just tired.

Something about leaving though filled her with a horrible sadness. Even though it was stupid and illogical and not true at all, she felt like once she went up to bed and capped out this night, she was ending everything. As if the Bellas would never be all together, celebrating again. On second thought, maybe she wasn't that stupid. Sure, they'd be together again. But they just performed together on a huge stage, and yeah, maybe they'd even perform together again but it would be _different._ Different. A new normal, is what everyone kept telling her.

For some reason, she found herself thinking about the sociology lesson: every contact with a human being should be preserved. _Preserved._

She watched Jessica and Ashley alternating their cups, holding their own up to each other's mouths and Beca furrowed her brows and smiled, unable to figure out the point of it but endeared by these girls anyway. She watched Amy slapping her own stomach as she danced, surrounded by the men in Saddle Up hooting and hollering and Beca couldn't help but let a small laugh escape. She watched Aubrey spin under her father's arm and even felt her heart light up a little at that. These were the moments she wanted to preserve. She felt a bump on her hip and a flash of red curls before she turned around to face her.

"Where'd you go?" Chloe hums easily. Beca only shakes her head and smiles.

"Nowhere. Just thinking."

"About?"

Beca finally takes Chloe in. She's got a drink in her hand, probably not her first of the night, but you'd never know. The little pink in her cheeks looks natural, or even worse, it looks like the shade of subtle, but present blush that people spend hours in front of a mirror trying to even out and achieve. Her lipstick has worn off a little, but it just looks like it was always meant to be a lighter rose color in the first place. It's hard to tell when Chloe is drinking, because as Beca has told her over and over again in a teasing, annoyed tone, "you are permanently drunk." No one else sober is as carefree and happy and uninhabited.

"Can we talk, Chlo?" she asks.

"Mmmmbout what?" Chloe isn't looking at her. She's nodding her head, moving with the music, snapping her fingers with free hand. "Wanna dance?"

"Actually-," Beca begins, but stops as her arm gets pulled into the flush of people. "Chlo, I-"

Chloe hands her drink to a random guy who takes it with an excited glimmer in his eyes. She lets her eyes close and Beca bites her bottom lip, wondering if she should just let it go. At least for now.

"Why are you so tense?" Chloe doesn't stop moving, but she's looking at Beca now. She puts her hands on Beca's hips and moves them for her, offering Beca a mischievous smile. Leaning into Beca's ear, Chloe waits. She nods her head a few times, waiting for her words to match up with the lyrics playing, before singing " _no deceiving, nothing up my sleeve and no teasing._ "

Beca pretends to roll her eyes, but lets Chloe lead her hips with one hand on each as her tongue pokes out between her teeth with her smile. " _I need you to get up on that dance floor. Give that man what he asking for. Cause I feel like busting loose,_ " Chloe sings as she dances, twisting down Beca's body. Idly, Beca notes as Chloe travels down her body, her hands don't leave her hips, then her thighs, then calves. " _And I feel like touching you."_

When Chloe comes back up, Beca sees her smiling and it's so contagious that she knows exactly what Chloe wants and she can't help but comply. She shakes her head and waits for the chorus to start up.

"I said, it's getting hot in here," Beca sings, rolling her eyes. _"_ So take off all your clothes."

Chloe squeals in delight and bumps Beca's hip again and jumps right into her own routine, which Beca follows without even thinking about. Through the rest of the song, they sing together, emphasizing all the right parts. Beca couldn't even help but realize it was too late when she was acting out "girl I think my butt gettin' big," by sticking out their butts towards each other.

It's exercise, Beca tells herself. Or some stupid whatever. It's endorphins. It's like, a thing she can't even control that has her feeling like this when the song is over and Chloe wraps one arm around Beca's neck, hanging off her.

"Okay," Beca breathes, wrapping one hand around Chloe's side. "I think you need some water. Or caffeine, or something."

"I'm gonna miss this so much," Chloe sighs. She pats Beca's cheek gently then turns her towards her, forcing Beca to look her in the eyes for a few twinkling moments. "I'm gonna miss you so much, Beca."

"I'll miss you too, Chlo. More than you even know."

Chloe's contented expression turned into a frown. "What do you mean?"

"What? Nothing."

"Becs," her voice is slow and prodding. Her cheeks are redder now, but Chloe always glows after any kind of performance. Even if it's just her and Beca, dancing in a sea of people. She glows.

"Now is not really the time to dive into this whole thing. It's like a whole trench of unresolved feelings, a whole thing that no one _really_ cares about so-"

"You _know_ I care!"

Chloe's outburst, unexpectedly, makes Beca smile. Because she does. And she does know. Before she can react, or think, Chloe pulls her arm ahead of her and brings her into the bathroom. In front of the mirror, Beca realizes that her own makeup ran all down her face. Her mouth drops in embarrassment. Chloe doesn't say a word about it, only wets a paper towel and starts dabbing under Beca's eyes.

"Kay," Chloe says, squeezing the towel into the sink before continuing. "Go ahead."

" _Dude!_ You didn't tell me I looked like a hot mess! You could have _mentioned_ I look like an angry skunk."

"You don't," Chloe shrugs simply. "You look happy."

And, strange enough, what Beca could see of her face around Chloe's hands working their magic, she thought she was kinda right. Her cheeks looked flushed and her eyes looked happy. Maybe she had a little bit of that glow that she always noticed in Chloe. She jumped backwards to sit on the counter, letting Chloe between her legs to clean around her face. Chloe worked in silence for a few moments, her tongue poking out the corner of her mouth.

"This isn't really how I imagined saying anything," Beca said before quickly correcting her statement, "not that I really pictured it, like a creeper or anything."

Chloe chuckled, unaffected. Beca felt her body ease a little.

"I know this is like, the crappiest timing in the entire world. I'd just let it go and get over it but..." Beca stopped and shook her head, a new brush of confidence. "Actually, it's just that I really don't wanna do that. I want to tell you."

"You can tell me anything," Chloe says very seriously.

"I want to tell you in case... in case..." Beca feels the confidence drain out of her rapidly. "In case, maybe it's the same for you. Because if it is, then it's like, it's just stupid to pretend it's nothing, right?" Chloe's hesitant nod tells Beca that she still doesn't know where Beca is going with this. Beca tries to force the words from her throat, where they seem to stick like glue. "The way you kissed Chicago tonight?" Chloe nods, signifying that she remembers. "Do you ever think about doing that with like, a girl?"

Chloe's smile drops, open mouthed. She knocks the side of Beca's arm. "Beca Mitchell! You scandalous little thing!"

"No!" Beca says too quickly and too frustrated, knowing it's more than what's warranted. "Not like that!"

"Like me and you?"

Chloe says it so simply, as if it didn't take literally every reserve of strength in Beca's body to even broach this topic. All she can do is meekly nod.

"Of course I've thought about it, silly," Chloe's smile is too flirty for Beca's already weakened heart by all these emotions. Chloe leans into Beca's ear and whispers, "I think about it all the time."

For some reason, it fills with Beca with an untoppable anger. She doesn't feel like Chloe is taking her seriously. In fact, she knows she isn't. She also knows she has no right to feel this way and it's completely her fault, because who confesses their feelings to someone who is obviously intoxicated? But none of that makes her anger dissipate, and she grabs another paper towel to dry off her face before pushing out of there. Leaving Chloe standing alone, slightly confused.

She still doesn't know exactly what she wanted from Chloe. It's not like it was the worst case scenario. Chloe could have been totally disgusted by the idea, so like, cool. At least it wasn't that. Maybe drunk Chloe was actually a good signifier to how she really felt, and Chloe actually _does_ want her. It should be a good thing. But it doesn't feel that way. It feels bad. Sucky bad. At least Chloe, if there were any Gods in the world, probably wouldn't remember this the next morning.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** Hi friends. Thanks for the reviews! I look forward to them and they mean a lot to me so please know you are VERY appreciated! So here's the thing. The tense in this story is driving me CRAZY. I know I switched them in the first chapter and it was just messy and then I stuck with it in present but I'm not comfortable with present, so basically I'm switching to past, and will be consistent from here on out. Please forgive me for this complete mess and I hope you enjoy the story for the story and forgive all my writing woes.

 **tl;dr:** my verb tenses are inconsistent, i'm aware. story will be in past tense from here on out.

* * *

Unexplainably, Beca's first year at Barden ran through her head on a constant loop the past few weeks while she's been on tour. She kept playing back the moments she first joined the Bellas and remembering stupid, useless details about her life then. Wondering now if any of those things had been any different, would everything have been?

Would she want it to be?

The goal was always to make music; she just never imagined her face in the front seat of it all. She supposed it was a little bit of arrogance, and a lot of fear, that prevented it. She always saw herself as a backseat passenger. Unless you were on the inside of it all, you'd never even know she was there. You'd just see the car rolling smoothly and the artists in the front. Partly because she thought she was above caring about being cared about, but also fear that people wouldn't like her if she sat up there. It was safer to never want it, to start out in the back.

It's not that it was a urgent matter that she wasn't creating music right now. She didn't really need new material at the moment. In fact, she was tied up for awhile with her setlist so she was fine. It just was unsatisfying. For years, creating music just for fun was an everyday occurance. If she missed a day, it was because she was busy. Never because she felt drained of creativity. But now, she was doing what she loved, and loving it, she was, seriously, she did, but it felt like there was nothing inside of her anymore to create.

Beca: **dude**

Beca: **where are you**

Beca: **if you're dead I'm going to punch you**

She scrolled up on her text message thread with Chloe. The last message from her best friend was yesterday night, stating: _goodnight xoxoxoxooxoxoxoxo_.

Never in her life did Beca describe herself as lonely. She was too stubborn. Instead, she embraced being alone. No one could hurt her by leaving if that's what she wanted. She didn't mind being alone with her thoughts, alone with a new album to discover, or a netflix account to binge. Tour was a different kind of lonely though.

She rarely got to be alone, first of all. It was draining to be constantly surrounded by people she didn't necessarily care about. She forgot how it felt to not love the people you're around more than anything else in this world. She missed Amy always being up in her business and she missed Chloe. She missed Chloe so deeply that she could feel it in her bones sometimes. It was like the ache she felt for her was so overpowering that it filled her up and left no room for anything else.

She thought of the last time she had seen her. She'd brought Beca to the airport, of course. Amy was supposed to go, but she disappeared in the morning for what she called "important business." Beca just requested of her that she not die or get caught up in any more explosions. By the time everyone had gone to where they needed to be, the only ones left that could send Beca off were Chloe, Aubrey, and Emily. They all went. At one point, Aubrey led Emily off somewhere and Beca swore she saw Aubrey and Chloe make eye contact before she did. Beca's stomach had dropped; she had been absolutely positive that Chloe was about to say something about what Beca had confessed to her. Or asked of her. Whatever.

Instead, Chloe wrapped her arms around her and squeezed her so tight that Beca had to choke out, "dude, you're flattening out all my organs." Chloe had whispered in her ear that she was going to miss her so much and Beca's heart skipped a beat when she pulled away. Their faces were so close, a part of Beca thought Chloe was going to lean in and kiss her. Beca had to keep reminding herself that Chloe was drunk, she didn't remember, she wasn't going to do anything out of the ordinary. It was only Beca who was being weird.

"Not everything has to change, right?" Chloe asked.

"Practically nothing," assured Beca.

"It's going to feel totes weird not to come home to you anymore. I won't get to see you every single day."

"FaceTime?" she offered.

"You'll FaceTime me every single day?" Chloe raised her eyebrows, obviously doubtful but hopeful. Beca smirked.

"Maybe."

"You better, Beca Mitchell."

"I really need to go through security now. So I can get to my gate on time."

"Right."

"Tell Aubrey and Emily I said bye? And thank you. For coming?"

"Def."

Beca nodded once and turned her back towards Chloe. When she turned around, she couldn't explain the way her heart leaped when she saw her still standing in the same spot, still watching. When Beca looked back, Chloe stuck her bottom lip out. It was all Beca could do to return the expression and hold her hands out. She tried to shrug, as in, "why not one more hug?" but she didn't even have the chance: within seconds, Chloe had run towards her and attacked her, engulfing her in another tightly squeezed hug.

"You're going to be okay," Chloe promised.

It was that moment, right as they parted ways, that Beca realized that no one else in this world may ever know her heart the way Chloe did. Everyone else that had ever known Beca had talked to her about how excited she must be for the tour, and they weren't wrong, she was excited. But there was only one person that knew Beca was more than that; only one person knew her heart without Beca ever having to say a word.

She had been trying _not_ to think about Chloe on tour. She tried to think about music. Herself. Her future. The fans, that she actually sort of had, kind of. It was weird.

She planned to go back to New York in December and spend the holidays with them. That was only a few months away. She'd think about all that, all things Chloe, then.

* * *

Beca fell asleep dreaming about her early days at Barden, wondering what had made Chloe so sure of her and her ability. She had been in her hotel bed for 13 hours now and had no plans to get up. If anyone from the tour tried to come get her, she planned to play dead.

When the knock came on her hotel door, Beca decided to stick with her plan and ignore it. When the knocking got louder and more persistent, she was sure it was Theo. She took the pillow from the other side of her bed and whipped it in the direction of the door, pleased with herself when it actually hit.

"Sups rude, Becs!" came a familiar voice that made Beca's muscles freeze before going into overdrive. Jumping out of bed so fast, her ankles twisted in her sheets and got caught, causing her to stumble before finally landing on her feet. She only saw a flash of red hair in the peephole before wringing open the door.

"Chlo?"

"Surprise!"

A million questions ran through Beca's mind, but none of them seemed to travel far enough to make them out of her throat.

"Miss me?" Chloe tried again.

Beca's eyes traveled down to the pink suitcase with an embellished B on it.

"Dude!" was all Beca's brain seemed able to form.

"Are you gonna let me in or what?"

Beca moved to the side and let Chloe welcome herself in her room, sitting down on the end of the bed.

"Totes five stars," she noted.

"Yeah," Beca smiled just a little and sat next to her. "Totes."

"Were you sleeping?"

"Nah." She looked the redhead up and down before remembering she needed to use words in conversations. She forced out, "How long are you staying?"

"Well since you have three days off, I've checked your whole schedule, I figured now was a good break for me to visit, see your next show, then go home to boring old work after that."

"That's why you haven't responded to my texts all day?"

"I was traveling, duh."

It occured, briefly, to Beca the irony that she had spent a good portion of her life insisting she hated surprises. It was funny, she thought, how she wasn't sure she'd ever be able to say that and mean it ever again.


End file.
